I cannot remember precisely when I read this book, but it was probably in the 1990s or early 2000s.
The plot centers around a remote island, where a scientist has devised a matter integrator that can create objects (plants, buildings, etc) from thought alone - a large generator maintains these objects once they have been created. As the story progresses, he eventually manages create a beutiful woman who becomes his companion.
Unfortunately, at the end, he sleepwalks into the lab and connects up to the matter integrator - he has a nightmare and turns his companion into a giant spider! He ends up getting killed and all the synthesised cretions start disintagrating in dazzling bursts of light as the integrator has been destroyed.
There is a lot more to this story, but I remember these highlights:
1) At the start, people visit the island where all this happened, and there are just the concrete bases for the generators, and nothing else
2) At an early stage, the scientist generates the illusion of a fruit, which he shows his friend (but at this stage, the creations are not permanent, so it vanishes)
3) He generates a whole range of strange plants, but they are not really alive.
Any ideas?
The plot centers around a remote island, where a scientist has devised a matter integrator that can create objects (plants, buildings, etc) from thought alone - a large generator maintains these objects once they have been created. As the story progresses, he eventually manages create a beutiful woman who becomes his companion.
Unfortunately, at the end, he sleepwalks into the lab and connects up to the matter integrator - he has a nightmare and turns his companion into a giant spider! He ends up getting killed and all the synthesised cretions start disintagrating in dazzling bursts of light as the integrator has been destroyed.
There is a lot more to this story, but I remember these highlights:
1) At the start, people visit the island where all this happened, and there are just the concrete bases for the generators, and nothing else
2) At an early stage, the scientist generates the illusion of a fruit, which he shows his friend (but at this stage, the creations are not permanent, so it vanishes)
3) He generates a whole range of strange plants, but they are not really alive.
Any ideas?
